An iconic cult classic from 1995 has hit Tubi and it’s already a hit for the streaming service. But how can anyone be surprised, really? The film, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, has everything: Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, and Wesley Snipes playing drag queens in a small town after a road trip goes awry. Stockard Channing and Blythe Danner playing fabulously headstrong women, and so much more.
Of course, the film wasn’t always a hit, is far-from-perfect in its depictions, and has been a divisive one for a long time. With a 48% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes — but a Tomatometer audience score of 72% — there are plenty of aspects of the movie worth dissecting and revisiting. Particularly given our current political climate and its outward hostility towards drag queens, transgender people, and the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.
“The plot seems convinced they dress as women primarily to help other people solve their problems,” Roger Ebert explained in his review of the film at the time. “For them, homosexuality seems less a sexual orientation than a license to practice family counseling.”
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This sort of characterization of queer people is undoubtedly a problem: many characters who exist outside of the cis-white paradigm often fall prey to a magicalization of their societal otherization by the non-queer, cis/hetero creators that often helmed these projects back in the day.
Even with all that said, and given the current political and social climate — juxtaposed with the many strides and advances that have been made along the way for queer rights and representation — we can’t help but wonder: does To Wong Foo still hold up?
Does ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar’ Hold Up Today?
Even when the film came out in 1995, some critics were keenly aware of how light-heartedly avoidant it was of digging into real issues surrounding drag queens and queer culture at the time. “What is amazing is how the movie manages to be funny and amusing,” Roger Ebert wrote, “while tippy-toeing around (a) sex, (b) controversy and (c) any originality in the plot.”
Still, for all its issues, it is hard to deny the impact the film had on queer kids at the time of its release. In an interview with NBC News, John Leguizamo, who played Chi-Chi — a character long thought to be transgender by the audience — explained how often he is approached by people to thank him for his work in the role. “I get lots of fan mail from LGBTQ teens telling me how my character helped them come out to their parents. They didn’t feel like they were seen, so that was a beautiful gift from the movie.”
Of course, even Leguizamo understands that if the role were cast today, he’d want an actual trans person — or at least a queer person — to play the part of Chi-Chi. “Latin people should be playing Latin people — no more brown face. Enough of that, and the same thing in the LGBTQ community, same thing. There are actors out there who are out that should be playing those roles.”
He went on to make an important note:
“We have to make amends. Anybody can play anything, but the playing field is not fair that way. Not everybody is allowed to play everything, so until we get to that place, it is important for trans actors to get a chance to act.”
Still, Ebert people weren’t afraid to lavish the film with a bit of praise for all it did right. “It’s amazing how entertaining [the film] is in places,” Ebert explained, “considering how amateurish the screenplay is and how awkwardly the elements of the story are cobbled together.”
At the film’s heart, however, are its beautifully intimate and vulnerable depictions of people and humanity, making it a worthy watch even through a 2024 lens. “I feel like recommending the performances, and suggesting they be transported to another film,” Ebert added. “The actors emerge with glory for attempting something very hard and succeeding remarkably well.”
The cast also featured a murderer’s row of incredible cameos, including Julie Newmar, Naomi Campbell, and Candis Cayne, alongside iconic drag performers like Hedda Lettuce, Lady Bunny, and RuPaul Charles. The film even featured Robin Williams as the aptly — and camp-ly — named John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.
You can watch it on Tubi now.
- Release Date
- September 7, 1995
- Director
- Beeban Kidron
- Runtime
- 105
- Writers
- Douglas Carter Beane
- Tagline
- Attitude is everything.